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Archive for November, 2009

I was googling the date of the Facehunter book release when I stumbled across this interview with my favourite Street Style photographer (he was my favourite before he shot me too, for the record.) Great interview. Give it a read. And if you haven’t checked out his new photo diary blog check that out too at: www.yvanrodic.blogspot.com

Nick Knights SHOWstudio exhibition at Somerset House is a fusion of Fashion, Porn & Technology. Thought provoking and insightful it question the way we see fashion and our own role within it.

Brimming with technological advances it makes you wonder what kinda of gadgetry will make the fashion magazine obsolete. Or whether the fashion magazine will ever go out of fashion?

When you’ve got a little black book that reads like a top 100 list of the world’s most beautiful people like Knight does, you can call in on some of those friends for favours. The collaborations throughout the exhibition ticked all the boxes, from giant naked models of Naomi to the numerous intimate videos of designers and models alike. 10 for interaction.

After my little chat with the male model sat reading The Great Gatsby; this was my favourite bit:

Kate Moss Kiss. WOW. Closest I’d ever get to those lips.

But the most innovative of the exhibits was that of upcoming and wannabe designers who downloaded the patterns of some of the most coveted designers in the industry and recreated them. Click Here for my favourite downloadable pattern from Maison Martin Margiela.

If you head down to the exhibition I recommend picking up a guide as your bound to want to tell your mates about it when you get home.

The coolest way to skate this winter has to be at Somerset House, London. Tiffany & Co present the 10th anniversary Ice Rink this winter adorning it with a little touch of sparkle and a giant Tiffany & Co Christmas tree. After a chilly skate you can warm your hands with a warm cup of Tiffany Tea! Need a sugar boost? Head over to the Tiffany Pop Up “Tuck” Shop. Yum Yum!

Inside the big blue present is like every big girls dream. Tiffany cupcakes and candy canes, peacocks and dears, and glitter and DIAMONDS! Lots of Diamonds. A cupcake or candy cane is a steal at £2.50 a fraction of the price of the sparkles.

Visit my Flickr for photo’s of the inside! Or click on the My Photo’s link on the Right >

UGH. Another celebrity who should stick to what she’s good at. First it was Kate Moss “designing” her own line for Topshop, only to be foiled that they were actually designed by London College of Fashion Students and bore uncanny resemblences to her own clothes.

No don’t get me wrong I’m one of Kates biggest fans, I could spend hours Googling her, but thats exactly where I want to see her: 2D, Nice outfit, Usually with her tits out, Pretty Face. Not claiming to be the next Karl Lagerfeld.

Someone please explain to me how this can be “designed” by Kate when she’s clearly wearing the same dress Circa 1998. That’s artistic interpretation too far. What are Kate’s credentials on desiging? There’s being an iconic clothes horse and there’s pattern cutting, measuring the seams, blind stitching. Come off it Kate.

At least Kate has some industry experience. Leona Lewis on the otherhand is singer off a reality show isn’t she? But apparently she seems to have teamed up with ethical embassodor Stella McCartney to design her own vegan clothing line. I’m vehermently against the use of fur in fashion but I can’t help think Leona Lewis could use her new found fame to promote PETA instead on joining the bandwagon of Celebrity ENDORSED fashion lines. Boring. She doesn’t even dress well. I shall wait with baited breath.

Yesterday was the annual Knit & Stitch Show in Grannies favourite Harrogate. The 3-Day long event was absolutely brimming with Students to Blue Rinse’s dawdling around exhibitions and stalls.

The day trip was organised by the “Knottingham NTU Knit & Stitch Society” who took a coach full of hungover students on the two-hour drive day trip to a cold and blustery Harrogate.

Set over 4 exhibition halls the show was overwhelmingly big and equally busy. There were live demonstrations (the Sonic Sweeper was mesmerising), hard sellers and Rumpelstiltskin’s spinning.

My favourite exhibition was by a local lady called Kerry Mosley. Her work was a fusion of Art meeting Textiles. Her portraits were large delicate wall hangings of well-worn faces. What was nice was a chance to speak to the artist herself and have a look in her sketchbook where she sketches the faces of her subjects using Biro and accompanies them with a narrative from the subject.

The Biro is harsh and captures every wrinkle that tells a different story of the person’s life. Some of the stories were heart-wrenching but made a personal background to the accompanying portrait.

The Portraits themselves looked so delicate on the wall but Kerry assured me they were actually quite strong. They are created through two techniques: Hand Knitting of pliable wire and then stitching and embellishment with beads over the top. The use of wire captures the lines of her Biro drawings, which I thought were equally as impressive. Each one taking her 6 months worth of evenings to complete.

At Uni we have been divided into teams to devise marketing strategies for Kickers. I know what you’re thinking. School Shoes. But they are so much cooler than they are given credit for. Did you know they collaborated with Henry Holland and The Hacienda? No, me neither. Why are they keeping these creditable collaborations hushed I have no idea. Or maybe they’re not. Maybe it’s their marketing that’s out of touch. Either way I bet you haven’t seen these collaborations and I bet you wish you knew about them before.

These beauts are my favourites’ of the bunch. Out of all the Kickers X designs sadly these were the only ones that weren’t available for retail! Husam el Odeh, an upcoming jewellery designer who has collaborated on the catwalk with the likes of Marios Schwab and Siv Stoldal added silver plating onto the heel, the collar, the facing and the laces are made of a silver fleurette necklace. If Kickers weren’t heavy enough to cart around on skinny pins.

Another long-awaited collaboration to line H&M’s pockets. Comme De Garcons was obviously too niche of a choice for the highstreet as it failed to sell out, so the bigwigs at the Swedish HO came up with this gem. Jimmy Choo’s for £80?! I spent more than that on my fruit & veg in Asda last week. This collection has been blogged, bragged and hyped about for months so I expected a furore, but nothing like what I got.

Firstly the collection was limited to certain stores. Why?! To maintain exclusivity. Surely the exclusivity associated with Choo’s is that unless you’re Carrie Bradshaw you can’t afford them. If you wanted to “maintain the exclusivity” of a reputable luxury brand you wouldn’t flog your shoes at student favourite H&M. Bewildering. After coming to terms with the fact it was going to take me two train journeys to my nearest store, Manchester, I swallowed my pride and donned some comfy shoes for the trip.

The wristband system they described on the website put me off getting there too early, if you weren’t in the first 160 people in line you may as well have turned up at midday because that was the time they began letting the hoard of wristbandless desperate women into the shop.

An hour and a half after I started queueing I was let into the feeding pen full of bony elbows and stressed staff. I felt sick from adrenaline and faint from the extreme heating. I was immediately approached by a blonde store assistant who demanded: “So what is it you want?” I panicked and replied: “anything in a size 5”. She understood the term anything a bit too literally handing me box after box. I filtered those out that looked more Dyer than designer. Whilst precariously balancing my boxes and trying to make a grab for a purse on the top shelf, a whistle rung loudly in my ears. It was the quickest 5 minutes of my life. And I was ushered out with the same force used to sell.

Out of one queue and into another. The line for the tills snaked around the shop so I joined the end and began the best I could to try on with limited success.

I wouldn’t say I’d do it again, but it was a shopping experience like no other. The opulent purple carriers, lashings of tissue paper and the complimentary dustbags were a welcomed finishing touch.